Who is Poot Lovato? Origins of Demi Lovato's Halloween meme explained as singer embraces viral photo

Demi Lovato is bringing attention to a nearly decade-old meme through her elaborate Halloween costume. In a social media post on October 30, Lovato revealed that she dressed up as a meme ‘Poot Lovato’, which went viral in 2015.

Poot Lovato originated when Lovato was photographed at the 2014 Royal Variety Performance at the Palladium Theater. The whitewashed image was further edited to disfigure Lovato’s face by an unknown person and uploaded to Tumblr.

Eventually, an elaborate backstory also emerged related to the meme, with netizens building a narrative that the image was an alter ego of Lovato’s named Poot. Netizens also joked that Poot was Lovato’s twin sister who had been locked up in the basement throughout her life.

Demi Lovato dresses up as Poot for Halloween. pic.twitter.com/BgzSjxxXSe

— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 30, 2025

Demi Lovato paid tribute to the Poot Lovato meme on Halloween

Demi Lovato’s Halloween costume led to the resurgence of the Poot Lovato meme. In a caption on Instagram, the pop singer wrote that in celebration of Halloween and one week of her newest album, It’s Not That Deep, being out, she was dressing up at Poot. She remarked,

“happy halloween and happy one week of intd!!! been so locked in this era thought i’d let pootvato out”

Lovato first posted an image of herself dressed as Poot alongside a cellphone showing the original meme. In another photograph, Lovato made a reference to Poot’s residence in the basement and posed against the garage, hinting that the meme had been let out.

In a following TikTok video, Lovato further poked fun at the meme as she could be seen trying to open the garage door and yell for help. According to People Magazine, Lovato also hopped onto the trend where people film house tours to a song by Sabrina Carpenter. As Poot, she introduced her living space and essentials such as a water heater, bubble wrap, and cleaning supplies, noted the news outlet.

Lovato also posted the behind-the-scenes of her transformation as Poot.

While this is the first time that Lovato has dressed up as the formerly viral meme, she has made multiple references to it in the past. Lovato, who was able to make fun of the meme now, revealed that she was originally troubled by the joke.

According to Page Six, in a 2023 conversation with Harper’s Bazaar, she said,

“When Poot went viral, that actually sucked because I thought that was a real picture of me. And I was like, ‘Oh, no. That’s a really bad angle.’”

Lovato also spoke about how she came to feel better about the joke. She added:

"But Poot was photoshopped. Later, I felt better about it because I realized that wasn’t my face. But it was definitely weird when it went viral…it’s really funny to look back on.”

That same year, Lovato’s birthday cake featured an image of the Poot meme, notes People Magazine.